NICE, France — Finance Minister Samuel Tweah was among four speakers chosen to open the CHOIESUL FORUM.
The Choiseul Africa Business Forum, a place of cross-fertilization, aims to give key for analysing the growth-generating sectors in Africa and gather, on an interactive mode, African and European leaders to develop a collective intelligence and to contribute to the opening of new scopes of partnerships with the continent.
Speaking to investors Min. Tweah made a compelling case for Africa and Liberia, to thunderous applause from the audience.
He argued that investment challenges in Africa are far more than business climate issues. He argued they are also geopolitical. Geopolitical intetest in Africa from big powers can catalyze investment flows to Africa. He noted that this happened for South Korea which received from the US some USD 2.5 billion in the 50’s, an amount that was equal to what the World Bank lent to all countries in the same year.
Minister Tweah noted that Africa has also received only 3 percent of OFFICIAL DEVLOPMENT ASSISTANCE since 1960, wondering if Africa is receiving such paltry amount where has aid been going, with the audience bursting in applause.
He further argued that AFRICA’S share of PPPis small and is concentrated in only 7 countries, saying that if investors went by that statistics, they would be investing in only 7 countries.
For Liberia, the minister presented Liberia as a commodity dependent country which rises and falls with the ups and downs of commodity prices of iron ore and rubber. He invited investors at the Forum to invest in value addition in Liberia as a way of stabilizing and growing the Liberian economy.
The Minister made the case for RUBBER and OIL PALM. He noted that just by adding a small 30 percent value to LIBERIAN RUBBER an investor can experience huge profit margins over current price levels.
Minister Tweah also touted the VIA RESERVOIR PROJECT as the FLAGSHIP CARBON SAVING RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT in the Energy sector, with the potential of producing as high as 800 megawatt of electricity. With the CLSG lines running through Cote d’ivoire Liberia Sierra Leone and and Guinea, the Mininier noted that investors should take a look at the feasibility report of this investment.
Minister Tweah informed investors that the Government of Liberia is moving toward a National switch in the digital space, an outcome that will provide boost for the digital economy. He invited digital companies and investors to follow this development.
Minister Tweah touted the recent macroeconomic. performance of Liberia as outstanding, describing the drop in inflation from 31 percent to 6 percent as arguably one of the greatest inflation collapses in history.
He noted that France and developed countries are taking a new look at Liberia on account of the strong policy decisions of the Government of President George Manneh Weah.
He described efforts to reform the Liberian business climate and the Judicial Conference led by Chief Justice Francis Korkpor.
Minister Tweah presented Liberia as having the most generous incentive regime in Africa for investors.
Prior to coming to NICE, MINISTER TWEAH held meetings with 10 companies in PARIS, who are looking to find opportunities in Liberia.
Minister Tweah returns to Liberia on Sunday where he is expect to join discussion on the national budget which is currently before the National Legislature.
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